Transcript

Wolves and monkeys are about the last animals you’d expect to co-exist peacefully. But in the highlands of Ethiopia, gelada baboons tolerate the presence of wolves, which hunt for rodents as the primates graze.

VIVEK VENKATARAMAN (Dartmouth College):

Up to two hours at a time, these animals can be within meters of each other.

HIRSHON:

After Dartmouth primatologist Vivek Venkatraman and a team of field researchers started noticing this behavior, they decided to quantify the wolves’ rodent hunting habits.

VENKATARAMAN:

And sure enough, what we found was that they spend a higher proportion of their time hunting when they’re among the monkeys and they’re also better at it: they’re more likely to have a successful attempt.

HIRSHON:

The researchers don’t yet know why the wolves catch more prey when they’re near baboons. But they write in the Journal of Mammalogy that the noisy primates could be driving the rodents aboveground, or making it harder for them to detect predators. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.